Effect of Layers Number on The Bending Properties of Chestnut Glulam Beams

In recent years, advances in adhesive and lamination technologies have offered significant opportunities in the production of high-quality and valuable products from low-quality and non-durable cheap wood raw materials. Lamination generally refers to a multilayer material production method. The main goal of this production process is to develop and improve many properties of the created composite product, such as durability and stability. Laminated timber, called glulam, is a layered composite material formed by preparing timber fibers parallel to each other and gluing them together with the help of glue. In this study, the bending properties of solid, 3-layer and 5-layer glulam beams produced from chestnut tree species were investigated experimentally and numerically. The modulus of elasticity (MOE) of 5-layer glulam beams is 13.39% higher than 3-layer beams and 48.31% higher than solid beams. The modulus of rupture (MOR) value of the 5-layer beam is 24.21% higher than the 3-layer beam and 65.28% higher than the solid beam. There is a maximum difference of 2% between the experimental and numerical analysis results. When the results are compared, it is seen that the results are close to each other.